$800 million Huntersville community will feature a beach-style resort, developer says
A Lake Norman developer will lay out plans to the community next week for an $800-million mixed-use community in Huntersville featuring a 40-acre “modern lifestyle beach resort” with a 10-acre freshwater lagoon.
The “crown jewel” of the private-membership Lagoona Bay Beach Club will be the tropical-style lagoon, surrounded by beaches, sun lounges and green spaces, Cornelius developer Jake Palillo said.
The development will spread east of Interstate 77 Huntersville exit 25 along N.C. 73/Sam Furr Road, Westmoreland Road, Black Farms Road and McCord Road, town planning documents show.
The tract is more than five times the size of Huntersville’s iconic Birkdale Village mixed-use community off the other side of the exit.
“It’s an amazing, exciting project,” Palillo told The Charlotte Observer on Wednesday.
The club will be within a planned 270-acre residential development on Sam Furr Road that will include 250 custom, single-family homes. Other properties in the development will house 320 luxury apartments, 200 town homes and 412 luxury condos, according to the developer’s plans.
Created with patented technology licensed from Miami-based Crystal Lagoons, the Huntersville lagoon will be “sustainable and eco-friendly,” using up to 100 times fewer chemicals and just 2% of the energy required by a conventional swimming pool, he said.
Recreational facilities and a trolley
The resort will include a 200-room luxury hotel, with private-access outdoor pools and a rooftop fine dining restaurant and cocktail lounge overlooking the lagoon. A convention center also is planned.
A trolley will get swimmers and bathers to and from the lagoon, according to project documents at the Huntersville Planning Department.
Planned recreational facilities and activities include swimming pools; unlimited water sports; tennis and pickleball courts; a basketball court; and a sports field. Also planned are an indoor-outdoor fitness center; health and wellness spa; yoga, pilates, aerobics and dance classes; and greenway trails for walking, jogging and biking.
Food and beverage options also will include beach-side bites and a coffee bistro; a family food court; and swim-up bars at the lagoon.
Remote-work areas will be central to the club, Palillo said, with shared co-working spaces, desks and meeting rooms. Study halls, computer labs and creative spaces will be available to students, and camps and classes will be held weekly. Child care for 3 to 12 year olds will be available up to four hours a day.
Construction expected in 2024
Palillo is undertaking the project with his son, Jake Palillo Jr., and son-in-law Brock Hullinger, in partnership with Housing Studios architects and Urban Design Partners landscape architects. Pending zoning approval, construction is expected to start in early 2024, Palillo said.
Palillo’s Huntersville community meeting is scheduled for 6:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 26, at 1994 University City Church Drive in Huntersville.
A public hearing on his rezoning request is tentatively scheduled for June 5 at Town Hall, 101 Huntersville-Concord Road.
The request is tentatively scheduled to go before the Huntersville Planning Board June 27 and the Huntersville Board of Commissioners July 17, both at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall.
This story was originally published April 19, 2023 at 3:50 PM.